Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Nov;39(11):3195-3205.
doi: 10.1007/s00381-023-05964-7. Epub 2023 Apr 24.

Secure windows for child safety: a retrospective study of window falls in children, aiming to raise prevention awareness

Katerina Apostolopoulou  1 , Vikrant Setia  2 , Benedetta Pettorini  2 , Chris Parks  2 , Jonathan Ellenbogen  2 , William Dawes  2 , Conor Mallucci  2 , Bimal Mehta  3 , Ajay Sinha  2
Affiliations
Review

Secure windows for child safety: a retrospective study of window falls in children, aiming to raise prevention awareness

Katerina Apostolopoulou et al. Childs Nerv Syst. 2023 Nov.

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of the study is to enhance understanding, raise awareness and inform prevention programmes regarding potential factors that lead to severe paediatric injuries caused by unintentional falls from windows.

Methods: This is a retrospective review from a major Trauma Centre, covering the majority of North West England and North Wales and included children under the age of 16 that had sustained falls from windows and were hospitalised between April 2015 and June 2020.

Results: Overall, 825 patients' records have been reviewed, 39% of which exhibited neurosurgical injuries (322 admissions). The most common cause of injury was falls (42%), out of which 19% was identified as falls from windows which was eventually the core focus of this review (25 patients). The records showed that 72% of the falls were not witnessed by another individual, suggesting that children were being left unattended. Average GCS recorded at presentation was 11.2 and 56% of cases were identified as severe major traumas. With a mean stay of 2.2 days in ICU, 1.6 days in HDU and 6 days in the neurosurgical clinic, average treatment costs per patient were £4,493, £651 and £4,156 respectively. Finally, 52% of patients were identified to require long-term physiotherapy/occupational therapy due to permanent disabilities, 20% long-term antiepileptic treatment for seizures and 44% long-term psychological services input.

Conclusion: This study presents our experience at a major tertiary trauma centre in the UK over a 5-year period, from a paediatric neurosurgical injuries perspective due to fall from windows. We aim to raise awareness and highlight the importance of establishing prevention programmes which would hopefully decrease the incidence of paediatric window falls.

Keywords: Child safety; Paediatric trauma; Window falls.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

We disclose no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Yearly and monthly distribution of neurosurgical injuries in children, caused by falls from windows
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Geographical distribution of injuries caused by falls from windows in the study area, North West of England and North Wales
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2022) National center for injury prevention and control web-based injury statistics query and reporting system (WISQARS). Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/fatal.html. Accessed on 10 Apr 2022
    1. Scuffham P, Chaplin S, Legood R. Incidence and costs of unintentional falls in older people in the United Kingdom. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2003;57:740–744. doi: 10.1136/jech.57.9.740. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Spiegel CN, Lindaman FC. Children can’t fly: a program to prevent childhood morbidity and mortality from window falls. Am J Public Health. 1977;67(12):1143–1147. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.67.12.1143. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Boston Public Health Commission Childhood Injury Prevention Program (1998) Kids Can’t Fly strategy transfer guide: models that work. Bethesda, MD: Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Primary Healthcare 9–15
    1. Flaherty MR, Raybould T, Savarino J, Yager P, Mooney DP, Farr BJ, Giuliano JS, Jr, Neeman E, Campbell BT, Thaker S, McKiernan C, Lewis D, Epp TK, Baertschiger RM, Jackson CA, Rideout L, Shah A, Falank C, Ontengco J, Cairo S, McLoughlin RJ, Aidlen JT, Watson-Smith D, Wills H, Masiakos PT. Unintentional window falls in children and adolescents. Acad Pediatr. 2021;21(3):497–503. doi: 10.1016/j.acap.2020.07.008. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources